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Can anyone recommend the best protein powder to take and the amount? I can't find any consistent recommendations. Some sites say 1gram per pound per day and others say twice that. Thoughts and suggestions on brand? Thanks

i wouldnt use any supplements, before i started mma i was 46kg and needed to bulk up for me 65kg fight i genuianly am all muscle now. the best thing for anyone to bulk up is as 'DaFreshestG' stated the brown rice is a good option but so is semi rare steaks and raw eggs and if you get thirsty then get some ice cubes and blend them with sliced fruit and make a fruit smoothie brilliant raw materials are the best way for our muscles on the rest period of the workout. and when you train dont warm up just start immidiatly and shock your muscles into it this is the procedure that works alot for many people. ya may see programmes online that are apparently good and made especially for u with supplements. i garantee you would be wasting money.

Please don't buy into the protein shake generation. It's a waste of money, and too much protein is essentially bad for you. If you feel like you need to use money, pay what you can for a nutritionist's advice.

You don't NEED raw eggs or rare steak. I would go easy with just a simple scrambled eggs, eat some nuts. Something that is very underrated is greens. Although vegetables aren't the source for protein, they are a good source to cleanse out your body. Boiled chicken is great. If where you live, it is legal to do so, eat horse meat. I heard it taste better than beef, more nutritious, and far better texture as well. It's cheaper to just go traditional food-protein method rather than wasting it on protein shake that doesn't even taste good.

The first thing you're going to have to realise is how putting on size works; your body uses food as primary energy (first carbohydrates that are readily broken down into 'fats' the body uses as energy, then fats and proteins in the same way) but will also burn stored fat and muscle for energy depending on how readily it feels food is available. To gain size you MUST give the body more energy than it needs through the day in food to prevent it burning off any muscle or even fat (the body won't burn fat stores to synthesize muscle as a survival technique) so calculate your daily maintenence calories here:
[http://www.caloriecontrol.org/health...alculator-men]
and aim for around 400-500 more than that per day (I assume you're already doing a weight training program if you're planning on bulking up?); this gives your body that extra energy to properly repair and synthesize new muscle where you've broken down the fibres in exercise. You have to accept that you will also put on some fat which can be dealt with later on as if, like me, you've always found it hard to put on weight counting calories this way won't result in much fat being put on at all.

Protein, you need to aim for around 1.5g x BW in kg per day (do NOT eat raw eggs, this is not only dangerous but the bioavailability of the protein in a raw egg sits at around 50% meaning that your body can only use half the protein ingested effectivley and excretes the rest, cooked eggs are in the high 80% range) aim for around 350g of COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES, that is low GI carbohydrates such as brown rice, wholegrains, sweet potato, rice crackers, lactose from milk (medium GI but milk is god's gift to bulking). Make up the rest of the calories through fats (try an avoid saturated fats although don't cut them entirely as studies have found a link between sat. fat intake and testosterone production).

I trust you know how to read nutrition information on products and can use that to count your calories, don't fret as calorie counting only needs to be done until you find yourself in the swing of things and you can pretty much guesstimate calorie intake once you've got the hang of it. Drink plenty of milk; even up to this day I drink around 15L of milk per week as it's a perfect balance of macronutrients (milk is a FOOD not a DRINK). Don't forget to stay hydrated drink at least 2L of water per day (tap is fine, don't buy into any expensive bull$*@#).

As far as supplements go I'd recommend taking fish oil tabs and having a simple whey protein powder at your disposal for after workouts but do not rely on this for your daily protein intake; milk, cottage cheese, nuts, meats (fish, beef, lamb etc.), tinned tuna (another incredible source of good fats and protein), greek yoghurt and natural peanut butter are a few foods I'd recommend getting used to as they're awesome sources of proteins and fats as well as varying greatly in taste and texture.

This is a very simple breakdown and I'd suggest you join up on a bodybuilding board and read some nutrition articles for a more in-depth breakdown of how the body works; once you know that you can see through a lot of bull*$@# people try pedaling to sell supplements or certain food brands. I hope this has helped, if you'd like me to write up my diet for you to have a look at just let me know and I will do so.